What little things drive you completely up the wall....?

[ladyknight1]

I use sour cream in a lot of baking, as it acidifies the batter, leaving it a softer texture.

[Luci45]

Do you always tell people there is coffee in the brownies? Coffee really makes me ill. I got sick from the odor walking into Duknin' Donuts one time, and a visit to Starbucks on a tour when it was the only place around made me sick.

I can't imagine looking forward to a brownie and getting hit my a taste of coffe. I had that happen with gravy once, so I always have to ask now. (Yes! Don't give me that nonsense about "you can't really taste it". I certainly can.)

I do hope you all enjoy your brownies, though. Just warn me!

[ladyknight1]

I've never had anyone ask, but I would tell them. I use coffee in many desserts and my husband's favorite Kahlua cake.

I have cut back on other common allergens, nuts and peanut butter.

Luci, be careful with steaks, as rubbing them with coffee is very popular at some restaurants and grocery store cooking kiosks.

[siamesecat2965]

People, who upon hearing you are meeting up with a friend of the opposite gender, immediately think there is a spark, when there isn't.

BG: I had a neighbor, who I saw around my complex, and chit chatted with, on and off for a couple years after I moved in. I'd see him in the laundry room, etc. and we'd exchange pleasantries, talk about football, etc. So one day I realized i never knew his name, and introduced myself. ANd he did the same. Also, my team was in the playoffs that day, and lost. Came home to find a note saying sorry about the loss, and giving me his email.

Ok great, so i emailed him, general stuff, and he asked if I'd be interested in having dinner sometime. ok, sure. so over a couple more emails, i ask how long he'd lived in the complex. he then tells me he and his WIFE had been there x years. Oh no, sorry, no dinner, I don't go there.  over time, come to find out its not a happy marriage, and he is interested in some extracurricular scrabble.  nope, sorry. I don't play that game.

FF a few years, he moves out, they get divorced. we still keep in touch via FB, and an occasional email. we've tried to meet up before for dinner, but never worked out, so today we had brunch.  end BG

I had several people who knew about his prior advances, tell me i should a. keep an open mind that you never know what might develop, and b. not to be so sure that i'm not interested. because I'm not. I might have been, at one time, before i knew he had a DW, but now, none at all. yet i was all but chastised for thinking that way. 

I think I'm old enough to know what I like and don't. And for the record, we had a nice time catching up, and a nice brunch, but that was it.

[Adelaide]

I hate the feeling of everyone's eyes being on you at law school. Of everyone being up in each other's business. I walked into a room filled exclusively with third-year students in suits the other day while I was wearing my "weekend warrior" gear so I could slog through hours worth of reading in the library. Unfortunately, I knew all of them and they all knew exactly who I was.  One girl asked me if I was ill.

On that vein, it's extremely difficult to ask someone out in this place. It's like as soon as you do everyone knows about it, so I'm not really looking forward to the backlash after I do. This place has REALLY shrunk. At least it seems like it has.

[Kimblee]

I hated it when friends of my parents called each other 'Mother' and 'Father', but I have since learned that was common in that generation in that area, and as bizarre as it is, at least it it respectful and not cutesy.

We have a fair few people in our area who refer to each other this way, and it's not the older generation. It's mostly people with kids under 10, and they also refer to their children as "sister" and "brother" rather than by name. Even when there's more than one child of each gender. It's more common to hear sister and brother for the kids than parents also calling each other mother and father, but both are relatively common.

It doesn't so much drive me up a wall as creep me out in a way I can't entirely put my finger on. I know the biggest thing for me is that it seems to depersonalize everyone in the family. That's not my sister Suzy, that's just "sister," a role that could be easily filled if Suzy were to disappear. I don't believe any of the parents who use these terms intend them this way - not even the ones who creep me out for other, more concrete reasons - but that's what it triggers in me every time I hear it.

My mom often called me "Sissy" growing up, and while I didn't mind per se, I could never figure out why only I got called "sissy" and none of my sisters did, because they were as much "sisters" in the family as I was, and my name doesn't have Sissy as a nickname either. I found out yeeeeaaaaars later that in the South there's A Thing of calling the oldest girl "Sister" or "Sissy" as a title. My mom is an oldest sister herself and probably picked it up from my grandmother, who really was Southern. But no one did that in the area where we actually lived, so it made my head hurt at the time.

My mom and aunt called each other "Sister" to the point that the sentence "Where is Sister, Kim?" (meaning where is MY mother) made perfect sense.

My cousin (actually that Aunt's daughter) refered to her two kids as "Sister" and "Brother" It kinda stuck, in the sense that a lot of the family call them that, even if they aren't OUR Sister/Brother. I even made a tshirt for my cousin that says "Sister" in big sparkly pink caligraphy... then got a complaint for the other one "Where was HIS shirt?"

So I made a second... in big sparkly blue caligraphy. He actually wore it until he couldn't fit in it anymore.  Suddenly I know what their Xmas gifts this year will be...

[Kimblee]

I have a very slight allergy to salmon.  It's not all that bothersome, but it makes my mouth feel "tickly".  I used to be able to eat it with no problem, but when that began to happen I stopped eating it for the most part, because I'm afraid of having it get worse and ending up with a really bad reaction. 

What sort of bothers me is, occasionally my dad will make some sort of remark about it.  "Salmon was on sale for such-and-such this week.  I got steak instead, because CrochetFanatic can't eat salmon."  I think he thinks he's being considerate, but it annoys me to no end.  Yes, I like salmon, but it won't break my heart if my family eats it and I eat a hamburger instead.  I also happen to like hamburgers.  No big deal.  I've said, "Go ahead and get salmon if you want it.  I'll be fine with something else."  He'll wave a hand, and say, "Nah, that's all right."  Then why mention it at all?    That just makes me feel like a horrible person for depriving my family, or something.  He'll also bring it up at restaurants, ordering a salmon entree and saying, "Mm, boy!  I haven't had salmon in a while.  CrochetFanatic can't eat it."  Well, yes I can, it just makes me feel like I swallowed poison ivy afterwards.  And he isn't being cruel, I'm convinced of that.  He's just clueless.  Just buy the salmon if you want it!  Jeez!

Oddly enough, I can eat salmon if it's smoked and on a bagel, and I have no problems with salmon sushi.  I don't question it, I just enjoy myself! 

Perhaps he's saying it more for your benefit? Like an affirmation that he remembers how much it hurts you to eat, or a reminder that he loves you by not tempting you? My stepmom always mentions when she makes something "And it has no onions, since Kim doesn't like them." But its not being mean or catty, its so I know I don't need the migraine pills, I can just dig in.

[CrochetFanatic]

It's possible that he means it that way.  It just sort of makes me feel put on the spot and guilty for some reason.  I like salmon, but really I can take it or leave it. 

So, another annoyance...I have a really sensitive nose, and I can sometimes smell things that other people can't until the smells get stronger.  This can be a good thing if there's chocolate in the vicinity, and a bad thing if someone hasn't had a chance to jump into the shower yet.  Unfortunately, people try (and often succeed, because I'm a doormat) to get me to give their clothes a smell to see if it smells like cat pee or B.O.  I don't want to.   

This morning, it was my mother.  "Crochetfanatic, can I borrow your sniffer for a minute?"  I opened my bedroom door, and she was standing right there and started coming closer so that I had to back up before I could even decline.  I said something like, "Look, I don't want to smell your clothes every time you think they smell.  If you can't smell it, odds are no one else will either."  She got mad, and said, "You don't have to be so nasty!"

Annoyed and nasty aren't the same thing.  I was not nasty.  I was annoyed.  Refusal, even polite refusal, often gets me snapped at.  Small wonder that I'm a doormat. 

[alkira6]

It's possible that he means it that way.  It just sort of makes me feel put on the spot and guilty for some reason.  I like salmon, but really I can take it or leave it. 

So, another annoyance...I have a really sensitive nose, and I can sometimes smell things that other people can't until the smells get stronger.  This can be a good thing if there's chocolate in the vicinity, and a bad thing if someone hasn't had a chance to jump into the shower yet.  Unfortunately, people try (and often succeed, because I'm a doormat) to get me to give their clothes a smell to see if it smells like cat pee or B.O.  I don't want to.   

This morning, it was my mother.  "Crochetfanatic, can I borrow your sniffer for a minute?"  I opened my bedroom door, and she was standing right there and started coming closer so that I had to back up before I could even decline.  I said something like, "Look, I don't want to smell your clothes every time you think they smell.  If you can't smell it, odds are no one else will either."  She got mad, and said, "You don't have to be so nasty!"

Annoyed and nasty aren't the same thing.  I was not nasty.  I was annoyed.  Refusal, even polite refusal, often gets me snapped at.  Small wonder that I'm a doormat. 

Seriously, if you have to ask someone if your clothes are smelly, just wash them and wear something else.

[CrochetFanatic]

It's possible that he means it that way.  It just sort of makes me feel put on the spot and guilty for some reason.  I like salmon, but really I can take it or leave it. 

So, another annoyance...I have a really sensitive nose, and I can sometimes smell things that other people can't until the smells get stronger.  This can be a good thing if there's chocolate in the vicinity, and a bad thing if someone hasn't had a chance to jump into the shower yet.  Unfortunately, people try (and often succeed, because I'm a doormat) to get me to give their clothes a smell to see if it smells like cat pee or B.O.  I don't want to.   

This morning, it was my mother.  "Crochetfanatic, can I borrow your sniffer for a minute?"  I opened my bedroom door, and she was standing right there and started coming closer so that I had to back up before I could even decline.  I said something like, "Look, I don't want to smell your clothes every time you think they smell.  If you can't smell it, odds are no one else will either."  She got mad, and said, "You don't have to be so nasty!"

Annoyed and nasty aren't the same thing.  I was not nasty.  I was annoyed.  Refusal, even polite refusal, often gets me snapped at.  Small wonder that I'm a doormat. 

Seriously, if you have to ask someone if your clothes are smelly, just wash them and wear something else.

Since we got our dog about four years ago, one of our cats has taken to peeing in places she shouldn't out of spite (the vet says she's fine), and the smell in the air sometimes gets into my mom's work clothes.  She hangs it in the closet when it's clean, and she's sort of paranoid about this.  This usually happens when she's about to head out for work.  Washing something and putting on something else that's clean isn't an option here, but she rarely has anything to worry about.  It's just the indignity of the situation that gets under my skin. 

[Piratelvr1121]

I love my DH but I swear if I let him, and we had the money, he'd buy a zoo, or a farm.   I like animals too but too many and it gets a bit overwhelming.

At the current time we have three parakeets, two cats, a guinea pig, and a partridge in a pear tree. (joking, not really) The guinea pig belongs to our oldest. Now DH wants a dog.  We agreed a while ago that we'd talk about getting a dog when we lose our two cats who are now both 4...well my cat may almost be 5. 

I said no, and he pouted and said it wasn't fair that I got the final say. Um, honey, it's because in these matters, if I didn't have the final say or put my foot down, I'd be up to my eyeballs in fur and feathers!

He seems to have gotten over it now but oh he was not happy this afternoon.

[ladyknight1]

Can he volunteer at the local animal shelter for a few hours a month? That is what a lot of dog lovers who can't have one do.

[Piratelvr1121]

That could be dangerous for him. He'd see all these poor dogs and would to bring them all home!  On the other hand it might give him a bit of a clue of how much maintenance it could be. 

[Venus193]

And I hope you have 20 more years with your cats. 

[ladyknight1]

That could be dangerous for him. He'd see all these poor dogs and would to bring them all home!  On the other hand it might give him a bit of a clue of how much maintenance it could be.

If a student lives in university housing, they can't have pets. Many of our students volunteer to play with the dogs on weekends.